a very busy day

I kept myself occupied quite well today! First, Nick and I went to the fitness center for my kickboxing (butt-kicking) class. Then, we came home so I could give myself a quick sponge bath and have a snack, and we were off to Rolla for some shopping. I took advantage of BOGO at Payless to get some sandals for me and Nick, and got some new shorts (size 10!) at JCPenney (where fashion comes to life). I also picked up a butterfly-bespangled tablecloth at KMart, where Nick and I shared a spot of lunch, as well.

Then, it was home for Nick's nap, which turned out to be a non-event. :) At 5:00, we met Jutta and Bryan at the park for some fun, and then we proceeded to WalMart, where I bought a couple of skorts, an exercise ball, and various and sundry other items. We didn't get home until 8 p.m.!

Now, Brian has just come home from his class and is brushing Nick's teeth, after which we'll put him to bed and relax for a bit before we retire for the night. Whew! I'm feeling a bit guilty about all of my "retail therapy" today, but not guilty enough to return anything. :)

lesson learned!

Never, ever open your oven door partway and then bend down and peer into the oven to see what you're cooking, thereby placing your exposed chest skin perilously close to the top edge of the oven door!




I mean, what kind of dork burns her chest on the oven? And boy, does it sting. It has even blistered a bit. Given the delicate nature of my skin, I bet I'll have a permanent scar. Perhaps I'll have to visit the ol' dermatologist to see if he can do anything to mitigate it. I can only shake my head at my sheer idiocy. :)

In other, happier, news, here is a picture of our Betta, Gordon, who seems to be doing swimmingly (ha!). He's thriving in his bowl and is incredibly low-maintenance. We just have to feed him a couple of times a day, and I wash his bowl once a week, but even then, the water just barely gets cloudy - Bettas are very clean fish! And he's so pretty. I love it when he fans his fins out - it's beautiful! He's been with us long enough now that I don't wake up every morning expecting to see him floating at the top of the bowl. :) I think he'll be around for awhile!

fun with son

Nick to me: "I love ya, girl!"

Me: "What was all that crying I heard?"
Nick: "Well, first of all, I bumped my head, and second of all, I spilled my water!"

Yesterday, we took Nick to Miner Mike's, this indoor amusement emporium in Osage Beach. He had a blast, and honestly, so did I! There's this huge "hamster" tube/slide/ball pit network that Nick had a blast exploring, not to mention the small roller coaster, Ferris wheel, and bumper cars. By far, though, everyone's favorite part was the arcade. I must admit that I have a weakness for things like Skee Ball, etc. - anything where you have to have good aim. I won quite a few tickets! But Nick was our little lucky charm of the day. There was a game that was like the wheel on The Price is Right. You pull a lever, and a light starts chasing around the wheel until you hit a button to stop it. At various points around the wheel, you can win anywhere from 5-20 tickets. At two points, though, you can win 250 tickets, and Nick did it! He hit the button at just the right time, and the thing started making all this noise and flashing like crazy. It took the machine forever to spew out all 250 tickets! It was quite the coup. A fun time was definitely had by all. Before leaving Osage Beach, we also did some shopping (of course). We ended up with some new summer tops for me, attractive new shoes for Brian, a new bed pillow for me, etc. Our poor little child completely zonked out during the drive home. It was a really nice familial day, and we were pleasantly tired last night.

what i baked

I made chocolate-dipped chocolate chip shortbread. I though it turned out quite well, though no one at the MOPS meeting said anything about it being yummy, so I wonder if people didn't like it. Hmmm. Or, since it had the firm, solid consistency of shortbread but I didn't really tell anyone what it was, I wonder if they thought it was a severely over-baked batch of bars or something. Oh, well!

Got my new driver's license today, after having the old one for 6 years. I actually lied about my weight and had the woman change it to 150. I figured that since that's my goal-weight, it would motivate me. And, hey, it's only a little 14-lb. lie! Furthermore, if I do get down to 150 anytime soon, I would hate for my license to say that I weigh more than I actually do for the next 6 years! Surprisingly, the picture turned out really well - I actually look lovely on my DL! How often does that happen?

Tried to take a nap this afternoon, but never really went to sleep. I have such a hard time napping! I wish I could do it, but I can almost never actually get myself to fall asleep in the middle of the day. I just lie there in a partially-awake state, my mind going a mile a minute. Ack! So, I'm sort of tired. At least the sun's out now, after a gloomy morning of rain and thunder. Tonight: yoga and parenting class.

this evening's walmart receipt

*trail mix
*weed killer
*gallon-size baggies
*waffles
*GoodNites
*sunscreen
*Ring Snuggies (those little rubber things that make a too-big ring fit better)
*tank top

"i have it under control!"

The above post title is one of Nick's favorite phrases lately. :) For example, I'll say "Nick, could you please clean up your toys?" and he'll reply "Sure, Mommy - I have it under control!" He also says "I was just assuming...." a lot, as in "I was just assuming you wanted me to pick a pair of underwear." Little wordsmith! A chip off the youngish block.

will wonders never cease?

I, Amy Jane, am actually baking something for tomorrow's MOPS meeting! I know, I know. Try to contain your astonishment. :) The funny thing is that I am actually quite capable of baking and cooking and usually achieve good results; it's just not something I'm terribly interested in doing very much. Sometimes, though, I get the urge, and today is one of those times. I'm not going to say what it is that I'm baking, though. I'm a bit superstitious about that - it's a new recipe that I've never tried, so I'm not going to tell anyone what it is until I'm sure it's turned out OK. Wish me luck!

Went to kickboxing today and had the usual sweat-fest. That class is so intense! I always feel great after it's done, though. Moist, but great. :) And Nick enjoys playing in the kid room while I work out. Not much going on the rest of the day, though Nick and I might go to the park later, since this is the day that Brian has his evening class. He left the house this morning around 6:30, and won't be home until probably around 9 p.m.

The rest of the week should be pretty full of activities: tomorrow is MOPS, after which I have to go to the DMV to renew my driver's license. It's weird, because the last time I had to renew it was 8 years ago! The funny thing is that I actually weigh what it says now. :) Tomorrow night will find me going to yoga and then to the parenting class I'm participating in at my friend Jeannie's house. And I'm beside myself, because new episodes of Ugly Betty and Grey's Anatomy are starting tomorrow night!!! Yay! I'll have to record them, but will be able to watch them Friday evening, so I won't have to wait too long for gratification.

Friday will include playgroup and a trip to the commissary for whatever groceries I need, and I might even get crazy and cook dinner on Friday (This depends largely on whether I've lost any weight or not. If I have, I'll be more inclined to "cheat" a little.).

This weekend, we might take Nick to Miner Mike's, this huge indoor funplex (think Chuck E. Cheese's, only bigger) in Osage Beach. And Jutta and I are planning to go to Mass together at the local Catholic Church - we'd like to check it out and see how we like it. Speaking of Catholicism, my niece Gillian will be celebrating her first communion this weekend!

The weather here has been nice and warm (upper 70s), so I've been wearing short sleeves, shorts, sandals, etc. I'm loving it! It's more fun to wear summer fashions when your body is nice and toned. :)

There you have it: the Amy update. Fascinating, eh?

back to reality

I don't have a lot of time to post right now, but I'm back home. I spent WAY too much money this weekend, on things like amazing food, Capri pants and Bermuda shorts, espadrille wedges, body wash, body splash, and scented oil, etc. Tim and I can be such a bad influence on each other! And somehow, the fact that it was HIS birthday weekend made me feel like I could justify all of this. :) I swear - one of my talents (dubious though it may be) is my ability to find a way to rationalize almost anything.

Gotta go unpack and get some stuff done...

ho hum

It's a yucky, chilly, rainy day here in small-town MO. Nick's usual Friday playgroup was cancelled today, so I had planned to go to the core conditioning class at my gym. However, when Nick woke up this morning, his eyes were quite crusty, a la pinkeye, so I figured I should get him an appointment with the doctor. So, instead of working out, that's what we did.

We arrived at the hospital for his appointment, and I tucked my military I.D. into my front pocket. We traversed the parking lot and walked into the hospital and up to the desk to check out his records, and my I.D. was gone! I found this to be quite stressful, needless to say. We retraced our steps all the way back to the car, but to no avail. I wasn't even sure if I could get his records without my I.D., but it turned out that I could. I called Brian, and he made a call and found out that he would have to go with me to get a new I.D. - what a pain! In the meantime, we had Nick's appointment, and he was prescribed some eye drops - no big whoop. When the nurse asked him how he was doing, he said "Well, my eyeballs have been kind of irritated and pinkish." She said "How old is he?" :) We picked up the eye drops at the pharmacy, and on the way out of the hospital, I checked at the front desk to see if anyone had found and turned in my I.D. Joy! They had it! I did a little happy dance, and we left the hospital. By then, it was rainy and yucky, so I decided to nix the trip to WalMart that I had been contemplating. We just came back home to spend the rest of the morning in the cozy house.

Nick decided he wanted to have a "slumber party", so we put him back in his PJs and I popped some popcorn for him. As I type, he is enjoying his popcorn whilst watching Curious George (the movie). He was quite a trouper when I administered his eye drops!

Later this afternoon, I'll be leaving for Springfield - I'm going solo again, to help Tim celebrate his 33rd birthday. No big plans - just some togetherness and maybe a few martinis and movies, along with a spot of shopping. I'll be coming back home Sunday morning, and plan to take advantage of the glorious weather that afternoon (it's supposed to get up to 80!) by having a family outing to the park - maybe even a picnic! It should be a very nice weekend. I wish the same for you...

i'm sad

I just received the news that my very good friend Jutta will be moving back to Germany in a mere 6 weeks. I knew that her husband was continually looking for a job there and that they would go back eventually, but I just never expected it to happen this soon or this quickly, and when she told me today, I was completely blindsided. Of course, they're very happy, because Jutta's family is there, and Germany is where they want to live "for good." And I'm happy for them, but I'm taking the news rather hard. Jutta is a true gem among women, and I would be hard pressed to find anyone else quite like her. I have enjoyed her friendship so much, but I still felt like we were just getting started, ya know? Having her in my life has meant so much to me and been so enriching. We'll still talk and email, sure, but we all know that's not the same. Right now, I'm just very sad, and I feel like her departure will leave quite a gaping hole in my life. I'm trying to look on the bright side (vacation in Germany with free lodging!), but that's hard to do right now. And don't even get me started about how much I'm going to miss her delectable baked goods! :) I'm sad for Nick, too - he and Bryan have become good friends and really enjoy playing together. And Nick was starting to pick up some German words and phrases, not to mention the benefit to my own German from being around Jutta. There's just a LOT I'm going to miss about her, like her intelligence, good conversation, moral fiber, sense of responsibility and loyalty, and the fact that we are of one mind in so many ways. Saying aufwiedersehen is going to be very hard to do. :(

could spring actually be here?

I almost don't want to tempt fate by speculating prematurely, but it would seem as though spring might have actually arrived. Our forecast for the next week has highs in the 60s and 70s, with only a little rain! Whoo hoo! I am SO ready for spring. I've got my faux glow on, and my toenails are even painted. :) Bring it on!

Not much else to say. Nick is napping, and I need to pay bills. Blech! At least I have American Idol to look forward to tonight...

wiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!

Last night, I went to my friend Heather's house for a Shaklee "party." If you haven't heard of Shaklee products, they're nontoxic, biodegradable cleaners, skin care, vitamins, etc. The presentation was so incredibly boring and irrelevant to me that I thought I might just perish right on the spot. No offense, Heather - I'm still so glad I came! :)

After the Shaklee hell was over, the fun part got started. There was much talking and laughter, and then Heather broke out the Nintendo Wii. I. Am. In. Love. Oh my God! Could Wii be any more fun? I don't think so. It's probably best that I don't have it, because I can see myself shirking my entire life in favor of an all-consuming Wii addiction. We bowled, and then we broke out the mat for Dance Dance Revolution. I was in heaven! I had so much fun talking and laughing with Heather, Angela, and Opal. I think Heather is the bee's knees, and I'm sorely chagrined that she'll be moving away this summer. I only wish that I had gotten to know her sooner. :(

The end result of this fabulosity was that I didn't get to bed last night until 1:00 - for me, that is Late with a capital "L". I am so tired today. I can't wait to embrace an early bedtime and sleep in tomorrow morning.

My Daddy is here, and we went to the commissary and the library and had lunch at McD's. We then drove to Rolla and did a spot of shopping at Big Lots and KMart. We're going to Cracker Barrel for dinner, after which he'll leave. Then, we'll come home and I'll flop on the couch for the remainder of the evening. :) Sounds good to me!

today's post

I literally could not think of a better title for my post. Yeah. That's how exciting it's going to be. :) I honestly don't have that much to say, but figured I should say something since it's been a few days.

This morning was kickboxing class (should be called buttkicking class!), and I swear that I sweated way more than I've ever sweated in that class before. I mean, when it was over, I looked as though someone had just thrown a bucket of water at my face and chest. Whew! Felt good, though. Love those kicks and jabs!

After that, Nick and I rushed home where I performed a hasty sponge bath :) and put on some fresh deodorant and knickers, after which we scurried to meet my ex-boyfriend Rick for lunch. It was a nice, leisurely lunch with good convo, though Nick was rather spazzy (what's new?). For awhile there, he went under the table and played on the floor. It was kind of nice! It was almost like he wasn't there, and he was having a great time. :) Hey - whatever works!

Now, here I sit, looking out the window at yet another gloomy day. No rain today, though we have more stormage forecast for tomorrow. Bleah! At least I have a MOPS meeting tomorrow to add some interest to the day.

And......yup - I'm all out of news.

an important message

Happy Birthday to you;
Happy Birthday to you!
Happy Birthday, dear Jillies;
Happy Birthday to you!
(and many more)

I hope that you have a lovely day, and do something to treat yourself. You deserve it!

In other news, we had a nice dinner last night with Mike. I made chicken tenders coated in honey mustard and crushed French-fried onions, along with a rice dish and salad. Mike brought a delightful fruit-za for dessert. :) Yum!

After Nick went to bed, we watched Sweeney Todd. It's a very dark, depressing movie with an inordinate amount of blood, but despite all this, we liked it! I recommend it, as long as you can handle the gore. You can always do the thing where you put your hand over your eyes and spread your fingers so that you can see a little - I was doing a lot of that! And if you didn't know this already, be aware that it's the Sondheim musical version, so it is largely sung. If you watch or have watched it, let me know what you think!

Gotta go work out...

hallelujah - the sun!

The sun is FINALLY out, and I'm feelin' frisky! Praise God. Oh, how I needed some bright sunshine to cheer me up. It has had such an effect on me that I even felt like blogging a bit today.

Even though it's old news at this point, I thought I'd share that my singing gig went spectacularly last Sunday. The song went really well at both services. In fact, I can honestly say that I wouldn't have changed a note, and that's very unusual for me - I'm often terribly hard on myself when it comes to my singing. So, what a coup!

The intervening week has been fairly ho-hum, as evidenced by my lack of posting. There just hasn't been anything noteworthy enough to blog about! But, the weekend is off to a good start. Have I mentioned that the sun is shining? :) We took Nick to a fun fair on post this morning, and he had a gay old time. He loved climbing up on the fire trucks and huge Army combat vehicles, and the bounce house was also a big hit. We came home with a big bag of junky toys and candy (why?), which have mostly been thrown away.

Tonight, our friend Mike is coming over for dinner, dessert in hand. I'm looking forward to it! After Nick goes to bed, we three adults (of Orient aren't) are going to watch either Sweeney Todd or Atonement (Mike's choice). Should be a fun evening.

Tomorrow, we're just going to hang around and try to accomplish some domestic tasks. I would imagine we'll also go to the park or something, since it's supposed to be so nice and warm.

Oh, sad news: Thomas and Percy have kicked the bucket. :( It's a shame, but not surprising. We're now trying a Betta. I'll let you know how that goes.

I just had a comment on my blog from an old friend, and it almost knocked me off my chair! It was such a delightful surprise. I haven't seen or talked to Mark since college, so it's been quite a while. He lives in Japan with his wife and children. It's so nice to be in touch with him again. It's a small world after all.

rain, rain, go away!

I am SO sick of rain and grey skies. Bah! Humbug! Makes me want to crawl between the sheets and hibernate.

i'm still alive!

I just wanted to post and let you know that I'm still here and all is well. I know I've been silent over the past couple of days - it's just that I've been rather busy and haven't really felt like blogging. I'm sure that will pass soon, judging by my past history. :)

Hope everyone is having a great week!

tgif

Well, no loss this week. I'm really not upset about it, which is kind of refreshing! This is probably because I'm just happy not to have gained after the shameful way I porked at MOPS yesterday. The evil Jeannie and Jutta brought such a delectable quiche and cake, respectively, that I was rendered utterly defenseless. :)

We had some hail here last night. Luckily, I got home from yoga about 10 minutes before it happened, and got my car safely into the garage. I love having a garage - they're so useful!

I had a nice time at playgroup this morning, talking to all of my peeps. I really don't know what I would do without my playgroups. They are sacred to me. And Nick rather likes them, as well. :)

Today, I'm getting stuff done in preparation for my weekend in Springfield. Yup - I'm going to Springfield this evening BY MYSELF! I'm very excited. I'm mainly going for my church gig on Sunday, but will also have some quality time with Tim, etc., and probably do some shopping and, of course, eating out. Brian has no gigs this weekend, so he offered to stay here with Nick so that I could be completely unfettered in Springfield. I think it's going to be pretty faboo - I can sleep in tomorrow!! That will be somewhat tempered by the fact that I have to get up at 5:45 on Sunday. :( Still, though, I can basically do whatever I want for two days, and I can't wait ! I'll sure miss my boys, though.

I'll be back on Sunday evening...

nick quote of the day

"I'm going to jump on the bed with my naked penis!"

oatmeal, a spark plug, underwear, and an area rug

I'll get to the meaning of the title in a moment. First, I want to introduce you to our new little pets, Thomas and Percy! Aren't they cute? We decided it was time for Nick to have a little something to take care of and love, and goldfish seemed the perfect way to start. I must confess that my past is littered with a shameful, stinky, glassy-eyed procession of dead fish, but I have high hopes this time. And, when all is said and done, if they die, we're only out 28 cents each! Macabre, but a simple fact of finance. :)

Nick was quite proud to pick these guys out, and I love their coloring. And I picked the glass "rocks", allowing me to teach Nick a lesson about complementary colors. It never fails to amaze me how many "teachable moments" occur in WalMart! Nick wants to take the fish in the bath with him tonight; I'm still trying to get him to understand that that would NOT be advisable. :)





Now, on to the meaning of my cryptic post title. See, it always amuses me to note the motley assortment of things that I buy during one trip to WalMart. I mean, only at a store like that could you buy the four things mentioned in the title! I was tickled by the array of items that landed on the checkout belt today. In addition to two goldfish and their accoutrements, we left with:

*various foodstuffs (including Boca Chik'n Patties - yummy!)

*light bulbs

*Good Nites

*hand weights

*self-tanner

*nail polish

*picture frames

*and a padded mailer

No underwear or spark plugs today! Maybe next time...